UPDATED: IWS expands its downtown offices

Springfield-based insurance software provider Intuitive Web Solutions is expanding its downtown space into the former home of ACR Nally Communications.

The company moved into Olive Place Suite 103 in 2006 and moved into the larger Suite 101 in December. Now, the company is adding the neighboring Suite 102, the former home of ACR Nally, which is closing June 30 after moving out of Olive Place in early June.

IWS Operations Director Eryn Cantrell estimates the company's total square footage will be near 5,000 after the move is complete and says officials expect to be in the space by August.

"We're kind of expanding in preparation for the growth we're going to have," Cantrell said. "In the past, we've expanded after we've needed to."

IWS has grown to 18 employees from five since the beginning of 2008, and the company expects further growth this year, Cantrell said. He estimated that IWS will hire four more people in the next 12 months. Projected revenue for this year is between $1 million and $1.5 million.

"We've tended to hire people who are younger" and who are in touch with "cutting edge technology," Cantrell said. They are people who might not have a lot of experience but who can be easily molded into "our way of doing things," he explained.

The company is preparing for a major software release in January.

Cantrell attributes IWS' growth in the tumultuous economy to the niche quality of the insurance software market. He said word-of-mouth has been even stronger than advertising.